The Implications of Changing Age and Weight at Slaughter of Heavy Pigs on Carcass and Green Ham Quality Traits

Abstract

Italian dry-cured ham production requires pigs to be slaughtered at 160 ± 16 kg at 9 months of age (control, C). The study explored three alternatives, based on different feeding conditions: (1) allowing pigs to express their growth potential by letting them reach 160 ± 16 kg slaughter weight (SW) at younger slaughter age (SA) (younger Age, YA); (2) allowing pigs to express their growth potential by maximizing their SW at 9 months SA (greater weight, GW); (3) increasing the SA required to reach 160 ± 16 kg SW (older age, OA). Pigs (336 C21 Goland, 95 kg initial body weight) were slaughtered on average at 257, 230, 257, and 273 d SA and 172.7, 172.3, 192.9, and 169.3 SW kg for the four treatments, respectively. C pigs had an average daily gain (ADG) of 715 g/d and feed efficiency (FE) of 0.265 (gain to feed). Compared to C, YA pigs had higher ADG (+32%), FE (+7.5%), and better ham adiposity; GW pigs had higher carcass weight (+12%), ADG (+25%), trimmed ham weight (+10.9%), and better ham adiposity. OA treatment affected ADG (−16.4%), FE (−16.6%), and trimmed ham weight (−3.6%). YA and GW could be promising alternatives to C as they improved FE and ham quality traits.

Influence of Slaughter Weight and Sex on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Ham Traits of Heavy Pigs Fed Ad-Libitum

“…In recent times, such constraints have become progressively inadequate, and today over 15% of pigs at the age of 9 months are too lean for the needs of the ham industry [ 8 ]. Increased adiposity can be achieved in different ways—for example, with the use of pig genotypes with a high ability for fat deposition, with an increase in the dietary energy/protein ratio, the energy intake of the pigs and in the SW [ 5 , 15 ]. The consortia for the protection of national dry-cured hams, under the domain of the Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO), proposed a revision of the guidelines permitting carcass weights in the range 120–168 kg—but still, the pigs must be nine months old at slaughter.…”

“…The data used in this research originated from a previous experiment that involved 336 pigs, from three batches of 112 pigs each [ 5 ]. Briefly, the pigs of Malgwi et al [ 5 ] were divided into four experimental groups.…”

“…The data used in this research originated from a previous experiment that involved 336 pigs, from three batches of 112 pigs each [ 5 ]. Briefly, the pigs of Malgwi et al [ 5 ] were divided into four experimental groups. The study, arranged as a split-plot design with sex within a pen, included four (4) feeding groups representing four (4) alternative rearing strategies.…”

“…Water was accessed freely from nipple drinkers within each pen. The major details of the nutritional characteristics of the feeds are given in [ 5 ].…”

“…For dry-cured ham production, adequate fat covering and marbling are required, so the pigs must be slaughtered at heavy weights, often greater than 130 kg [ 3 , 4 ]. In these production conditions, an increase in SW is considered a potential strategy to compensate for the increased leanness of modern pig genotypes [ 5 ]. In the Italian dry-cured ham production circuits, an SW of 160 ± 16 kg and a minimum age of nine months are indicated by the official production guidelines [ 6 ].…”